The Mountain Goats will be making a stop this Saturday at Antone’s to promote their latest album Heretic Pride. The album was actually released this last February and received an 8.0 on the I’m too cool for school and you will listen to whatever the hell I tell you to listen too coolness meter on Pitchfork Media. I must be honest, I am a luke warm fan, well at least I was until I took a listen to Heretic Pride. You see, other than a few stand out tracks like No Children, some of their songs seem to blend into one long song, they all sounded the same to me. I know, I know… give it a chance right? Well I didn’t but the lovely significant other was a fan and so I downloaded the new album and loved it. It seems like they decided to speed things up a bit. At least that’s how I felt. But never mind that. Take a listen and tell us what you think. If you are so inclined to this Saturday, you can catch them at with Kaki King at Antone’s. For your viewing pleasure, I will submit to you, No Children from the Tallahassee album thanks to Youtube.

The word on the street is there will be a viewing of Young Frankenstein tonight at the Old Legation. For those of you who don’t know what it is (like us until a few minutes ago), the French Legation that was built in 1840 was once the home of the charg d’ affaires. Huh? Exactly! It was the home of the people who represented the French government in Texas while Texas was still a republic. Now it has become the property of the State of Texas and is available for tours during normal business hours. But for tonight, it’s all about ghouls and goblins! See below for more information.

Austin’s oldest home will open its iron gates to visitors (living or otherwise) for a special evening of music, stories, games, and fun. Ghost tours of the home will be offered at regular admission prices at 1:00pm, 2:00pm, 3:00pm, and 4:00pm. The museum will then host an exciting community gathering from 6:00-9:00pm filled with music by Austin’s own David Lutes (www.plumtucker.net), stories of neighborhood ghosts, bobbing for apples, candlelight viewings of the historic home and Victorian mourning practices, and other FREE family fun. Grown-ups and young adults are invited to stay and watch an outdoor movie at 9:00pm in front of the historic home for just $5. Picnics are welcome!

Sorry, we are in a Mountain Goats mood today since we are seeing them tomorrow!! YAY!

But anyway, so yes, yes, it’s Halloween, we know. Hopefully, you’ve figured out something fun to do tonight. Hopefully you’ve got some sort of costume, and hopefully you’re all strung out on candy and goodies. but WAIT! It’s only Friday! We’ve got a whole weekend to fill with fun. So, as for us, we are totally pumped about the Dia de Los Muertos extravaganza going on Saturday. It looks like a blast. We are so there. Here’s the deets from the Web site:

Festivities take place on 5th Street, between Congress and Brazos, with booths, traditional foods and drink, and entertainment. The afternoon will feature children’s activities and entertainment in the afternoon, and an exciting showcase of live music in the evening! During the evening, there will be also be reprises of the Michael Jackson Thriller dance and contests for the best costumed Chihuahua, Frida Kahlo look-alike, and Guanajuato Mummy.

Join Mexic-Arte Museum in its most spectacular Día de los Muertos Procession yet! We’ll go back in time to the Pre-Columbian era, travel through the Colonial and Modern eras, and conclude with a unique, contemporary Austin twist featuring the Guanajuato Mummies and the 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller with dancing zombies.

The Procession gathers at Plaza Saltillo in East Austin and will include the return of the Frida Kahlo look-alikes, costumed Chihuahuas, Posada Catrinas, portable altars, mariachis, marching bands, folklorico and Aztec dancers, paper maché props, and colorfully decorated cars.

Monster drawings! East Austin’s favorite bookstore will be having a shindig featuring an awesome collection of monster drawings from a ton of artist. There is a lot going on tonight, but don’t commit to just one thing, if at all possible, try to go to as many of our local events and support as many of them as you can, including this one.

East Austin resident Lillian G’s Etsy store, Lazy Little Things, is a goldmine for all of you t-shirt collectors. Her designs are funny and unique, and many of her shirts are recycled, too! Gotta love that. We haven’t actually bought any of her wares just yet, but we are excited about the idea of getting a “little thing” in the mail along with our package. She says she is an obsessive collector of all sorts of things, and a purchase from her store comes with the promise of an extra little something she found somewhere. Who else gives you FREE stuff!? Lillian isn’t just a one-trick pony. In addition to t-shirts, she has all sorts of wild postcards for sale, each amazing in their own right. We particularly love her Indefinable Dementia postcard. Let’s support our local artist, guys! Who doesn’t want a T-Rex t-shirt!?
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EA: T-shirts and postcards are the name of your game — what drew you to these mediums for your creations?

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Lillian: A few years ago, I started making small postcard-sized collages and I got super into it. I became obsessed with the idea of making one a day, and while I was making one a day for myself, I was also making these collages, postcards, and mail gifts for friends. I started making silkscreens around the same time and similarly, began to print shirts for myself as well as gifts for friends.

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EA: We love getting things in the mail and have a pretty nice little collection of postcards ourselves. What’s the awesomest thing you’ve received in the mail? Postcard, or otherwise. What is the farthest a postcard has traveled to be with you?

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Lillian: It’s hard to say the very best thing the postperson has ever brought me, but a package that really stands out in my mind was one I received about a year ago from my good friend Emily Jo Cureton. She sent a big box full of a ton of surprises, including a collection of the daily New York Times crossword puzzles that she had completed over the past few months, a really great blue and pink striped sweater (which has since become one of my favorite articles of clothing), a bag full of pompoms of a variety of colors and sizes, a Mighty Tiny record player (the world’s tinniest records player!), and some cut outs from drawings she was working on. It was a treat to say the least.
I think the furthest a postcard has travelled to me is from Florence, Italy to my humble abode in Austin. I got it a few weeks ago from my sister who is staying there right now.

Lillian: I collect a lot of things: little things, brightly colored things, tiny plastic toys, nuts and bolts, glass jars, old photographs and slides from other people’s family vacations, pompoms, kid’s science books with lots of pictures, American Heritage books, $1 records, anything related to or looking like a watermelon, neon hats, cigar boxes… I have an incredibly difficult time parting with objects, so I have a house full of bits and pieces, scraps and snips, nicks and nacks, this and that, not to mention odds and ends.

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EA: Your t-shirts rock our socks off. Where do you get your ideas for the design? Which is your favorite?

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Lillian: Most of the images are based on things I’ve found in books. For example the T-Rex print is based on a picture in a book I have about “the natural history of dinosaurs” and “Mouth Pains” is an enlargement of an image from an old medical text book. Some aren’t from another source, like the bubbles print. That’s from a “bubble drawing” I made and then scanned it and increased the contrast.
I think the “Mouth Pains” shirt is my favorite. I think it looks funny to see a person wearing a shirt with a big head on it, I imagine them with two heads stacked on top of each other and the fake head on the shirt is a lot larger than their actual head. For some reason that seems funny to me. Also I like this shirt because some people, like my mother, are utterly repulsed by it. I just think it is unexpected and funny to see athis picture on a t-shirt.

EA: Do you ever feel sad after you’ve sold something you created? Like, “oh! bye dinosaur t-shirt! I hope you find a good home.” Or is it more like, “yay, now someone else can love you too, dinosaur t-shirt,” or are you more sane then we are and refrain from making emotional attachments to inanimate objects?

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Lillian: I connect emotionally to object all the time, maybe that’s why I have such a hard time throwing things away. With the t-shirts, I’m not sad to see them go, I’m happy and flattered that somebody wants to wear it. It makes me feel really good when people are interested in the things I make. Also, the beauty of silkscreening is that I can always make more prints of the images.

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EA: Finally, do you feel that East Austin has influenced you and your work in any way? What brought you to this neighborhood in the first place? What’s your favorite East Austin place?
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Lillian: Hmmm, I’m not sure about East Austin specifically influencing my work, but living here has been great. I moved to the neighborhood when my friend was about to move out of her amazing house, so she left and I inherited this happy home full of cobwebs and white drapes. I live next to the Oakwood Cemetary, which is perhaps my favorite place on the east side of I-35, either there or my front porch.

Thanks Lillian!

If any of you guys out there know of any East Austinite designers with their wares on Etsy, please let them know that we are looking for more people to talk to. They can e-mail us at eastaustinite@gmail.com

This ain’t your redneck brother’s backyard Halloween party. This sounds like the East Side’s big bash. They have, like, promoters and stuff. So if that downtown craziness is your scene, but you feel like keeping the party in the East Austin hood, this sounds like your best bet so far.

501 Studios is hosting a high-energy dance party they have dubbed Rockula (we will reserve judgement on the choice of that particular moniker). Be prepared for video projected creep shows, a handcrafted photo set with photographer Victoria Renard, a costume contest, and music (obvi).

Whisky Bar’s DJ Hannibal Beretta will also be on the premises spinning some tunes. Show Me Tiger! plays at 10:30 and L.A.X. takes over at midnight.

Oh, and apparently they’ve recruited Mmmpanadas to serve up some tasty delights. We love empanadas. Little pockets of heaven.

If you haven’t heard about the Austin’s Alternative Softball League, here are a few details. Softball without the sucking part. With that being said, the current season has just come to a conclusion with the Austin Chronicles team winning it all. At this point, they are going to be gearing up for a new season too and we are wanting to get a team of East Austinites together to compete. If any of you are interested in joining the team, give us a shout at eastaustinite@gmail.com. We hope to hear from you guys so we can get started.